Pages

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

What I'm Reading
I read Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys which was so good and then Brisingr by Christopher Paolini which was less so. I have so little patience left for this series but I just want to know how it ends. I've been tempted to ask the hubs who has already finished it just so I don't have to read the last book, but I won't. No idea why I'm stubbornly sticking to it. Next up, Reclaimed by Sarah Guillory.

What I'm Writing Revising

I'm hoping to be done my revision by the end of the week and then I'll have to do another read through to make sure it all makes sense before I send it off to beta readers. I'm also reading a CP's MS and I'm almost done that too.

What Inspires Me Right Now

I can tell you what DOESN'T inspire me, and that's crappy technology. First iTunes gave out on my computer, and now Internet Explorer and Google Chrome won't work either. So I'm doing this on Firefox which I've never used before and it's FRUSTRATING. My computer sucks bricks.
As for inspiration... sorry, I got nothing.

What Else I've Been Up To
Once I'm done typing up this post (it's actually Tuesday night right now) I'm going to watch the last episode of the first season of Being Erica which is a show I've totally enjoyed. Other than that, I haven't been up to much. I bought my tickets to see Divergent this weekend though and I'm psyched about that.

Friday, March 21, 2014

I'm going to deviate from my usually scheduled programming (ie: talking about books and writing) because I found THE MOST AMAZING mascara.

No, really. I did. And I swear I'm not selling the stuff or anything, so if this comes off sounding like some cheap ad, forgive me. It's just, I've been searching for the perfect mascara for forever and now that I found one that comes preeeeetty close, I just have to share it with the world (or, the girls out there).

I'm not much of a makeup person in general. I wear it more because I have to than because I want to. But mascara is my one must have. I constantly try new ones, each time foolishly believing that they will elongate or thicken or give me scandalous lashes. Bwaha. They never do. And then a facebook friend was having one of these online "parties" where they try to sell you stuff and I usually avoid that kind of thing but I couldn't help myself when I saw the before and after pictures. So I bought it just to try it out.

Here's my before and after:

This is me with normal mascara on. I've got regular length eyelashes, not really short but not really thick or long either.

I'm gonna be honest about this stuff though. There are some downsides. First, it's expensive. It cost me $35 in Canada (it's $29 in the US) plus it's $10 for shipping. My sis-in-law ordered together so we would each only have to pay $5 shipping. They do free shipping for orders over $100 so next time we'll get another person in so we won't have to pay anything.

Second, this mascara takes time. You actually get two tubes when you buy it- one of gel, and one of fibers. You put on a coat of regular mascara first and let it dry. Then you put on a coat of gel, then right away a coat of fibers before the gel dries, then another coat of gel to set the fibers in place. See? Time. That's four coats of mascara per eye. Yeesh. And it's tricky to get the hang of the fibers which are basically little tiny black fuzzes or hairs that stick to your own lashes and make them look longer. I'm still trying to get the hang of it.

2 tubes and mascara case

Third, I find that some of the fibers get on my cheeks or on my brow bones during the day. The girl who sold it to me said this never happens to her (really?) and that I need to be putting on more 2nd coat gel. There isn't a lot of them, but it's still annoying to look in the mirror and see a tiny black bit on your face. (You do have to look really close though because they are teeny.)

My last thing isn't really a negative but a pet peeve. The tube says "water resistant." You can also go on YouTube and watch a ton of "how-to" videos for this stuff and they all say this mascara is waterproof. IT IS NOT. To me, waterproof means you can swim and it won't come off (or barely). As soon as you rub your eyes, this stuff starts coming off. Maybe if you cried but never touched your eyes it might be fine, but is that really possible? Or am I just an eye rubber? Ha. It doesn't bother me that it isn't waterproof, but DON'T SAY THAT IT IS.

Despite those negatives, I totally love this stuff. I don't wear it every day because it's too much work and my normal eyelashes aren't that bad. But once I have it on, I hate washing it off because my eyelashes look so pretty! Also, you can make them even longer with more coats which I did last Friday night. I swear, my eyelashes were almost to my eyebrows. I prefer a more natural look though so that wasn't really for me.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

What I'm Reading
Last night I finished Infinite by Jodi Meadows which was a nice end to the Incarnate Trilogy (although I liked the first book best). Next up, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys.

What I'm Writing Revising
Revisions are going good. I've got less than a hundred pages to go and I'm excited/nervous (I'm *NERVICITED!) about the changes I'm making. Still have a few things to change up though and I'm worried that I might miss tying up some loose ends. Eek.

What Inspires Me Right Now
This song from the soundtrack from SMASH season one. It easily applies to writers, too. (If the video doesn't work, click on the link below.)

What Else I've Been Up To
I saw Need For Speed on the weekend which I thought was going to be totally lame. I didn't want to see it at all, but it ended up being better than I thought. Predictable and the plot was loose at times, but still, I was entertained.
Also, my sister had a baby boy on St. Patrick's Day, her first. She had a stressful pregnancy, had to be induced, and now the baby has been airlifted to another hospital because the docs think he has some kind of blockage in his esophagus- he can't keep milk down. My sister will be taken there tomorrow and she also has to remain in the hospital because her blood pressure is off the charts. I'm kinda freaking out a bit, not gonna lie, but I continue to pray and hope for the best. Hopefully I'll hear more soon. She lives across Canada from me so I have to rely on phone calls from my mom to keep me updated.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Nope, I'm not Irish, not even a little bit. So I thought I'd celebrate the day (since I don't drink and all) with some gifs of famous dudes who claim to be Irish. (Or the internet claims them to be. If I'm wrong, I apologize to all of Ireland. Feel free to drink my share.)

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

What I'm ReadingI read The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson this past week which was, of course, really good and also heart-wrenching. Next up, Infinite by Jodi Meadows.

What I'm Writing Revising
Still plugging away at my revisions. Nothing new to report there except my word count is steadily climbing. I finished my first draft at 61k and I'm at 72k right now.

What Inspires Me Right NowThe Impossible Knife of Memory was inspiring to me because the MC in that book is similar in a lot of ways to my own MC right now. They don't have the same backstory, and the books aren't remotely the same, but they've both gone through a lot with their parents and I really found the voice in the book so well done. (Not to mention the dialogue was excellent.) It made me want to go back through my MS and add in the little details that will hopefully help readers to understand my MC better.

What Else I've Been Up To

I finished the last season of Merlin last weekend. That final episode... augh! What I wanted to happen happened, but something else happened that I didn't want AT ALL which bummed me out. (I know, I know, it's just a show.) I also watched the new Romeo and Juliet which I thought was fantastic. My new treadmill show: Being Erica, a Canadian drama about a 32-year-old woman whose therapist sends her back in time so she can fix all the mistakes she made when she was younger. First episode was great so I'm looking forward to more.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

What I'm Reading
I finished Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein last night and augh. AUGH. Her books. Seriously. They are just SO MUCH I don't have the words. I will add that I don't think this book is quite as good as Code Name Verity but it's still SO GOOD. And note to self: don't read books about concentration camps right before bed because you won't get much sleep.

What I'm Writing Revising
I've made good progress on EPONINE. I'm right in the middle section now and this is the stuff that needs the most work. Yesterday I cut cut cut and combined a bit and today I've got some new-fangled scenes to write. Yeehaw!

What Inspires Me Right Now
I was listening to this song yesterday and suddenly the words jumped right out at me and I had to replay and replay because I could totally place it in a specific spot in EPONINE. Love that!

What Else I've Been Up To
The hubs and I took the kids to The Lego Movie on the weekend and I hate to say I was disappointed. The kids thought it was great, the guy next to me was howling, but I just... didn't. The graphics of the lego building were pretty cool (and they had DUMBLEDORE for a split second and with a weird voice) but that's about it. There's so many other good kids movies these days that this one just didn't live up. Sorry, Lego Movie but everything is not awesome.
What is awesome? MERLIN. I'm on season five and I love it and I'll be SO SAD when it's over. Also (mini-spoiler coming), Arthur better figure out Merlin has magic before the season ends or I'm going to have a hernia. AUGH!